making soil more acidic
 

Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots,
presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost.

To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there
anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are
planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice.

making soil more acidic
 

On 16 Jul, 13:55, "john westmore_______"
wrote:
Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots,
presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost.
To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. * Is there
anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are
planting them to make them happy? * Thanks for advice.

First you must determine your garden soil ph before you put your
azaleas in it. If you don't have a soil tester, you can determine the
soil ph by the plants growing there already, especially the weeds.
Cinquefoil, dandelions, buttercups, centaurea show signs of an acidic
soil. Shrubs like acer and amelanchier, rhodos and camelias, skimmias
and magnolia all grow on acid soil. You can change the soil ph by
adding lime or sulphur - but this is only temporary as it leaches out.
You also need a well drained soil. I grow blueberries in a raised bed
in pots of ericaeous compost sunk in the ground. I couldn't change the
ph of the whole bed. To encourage the acidity on that part of my bed,
I mulch every year with cuttings from our xmas tree up to spring. In
the autumn I apply a mix of leaf mould and sand.

making soil more acidic
 

In article ,
lid says...
Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots,
presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost.

To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there
anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are
planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice.



There is a product called sequestral (spelling?) which can help but
basically it is only of limited benifit and unless your soil is already
neutral to acid they will never thrive although you may be able to keep
them alive.
Soils close to acid can perhaps be made slightly acidic by the
application of a lot of manure or shredded conifer but none of this will
work for alkaline soils with a high PH (and you can make things worse by
using tap water in many parts of the UK)
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

making soil more acidic
 

On 16/07/08 13:55, john westmore_______ wrote:
Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots,
presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost.

To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there
anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are
planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice.



Why not save them by repotting them using ericaceous compost and using
rainwater (NOT tap water) to water them? What is the problem with that?

As regards garden soil, it is virtually impossible to make it more
acidic so that is it suitable for acid-loving plants.

making soil more acidic
 

On 16/7/08 16:00, in article
net, "Ed" ex@directory wrote:

On 16/07/08 13:55, john westmore_______ wrote:
Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden pots,
presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost.

To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. Is there
anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more acidic where we are
planting them to make them happy? Thanks for advice.



Why not save them by repotting them using ericaceous compost and using
rainwater (NOT tap water) to water them? What is the problem with that?

As regards garden soil, it is virtually impossible to make it more
acidic so that is it suitable for acid-loving plants.



Some people dig a large hole and line it with ericaceous compost to a good
depth. Then they put in their plant and fill up the hole with more of the
same. The theory is that the plants get going in the right medium and
slowly adapt to the 'wrong' one as they grow. I say 'theory' because I
haven't tried this myself, I've only read about it.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

making soil more acidic
 

making soil more acidic
 

In article ,
says...
wrote:
"john westmore_______" wrote:
Some small azaleas we have, have not done well in their garden
pots, presumably because we didn't use ericaceous compost.
To save them we now want to put them directly in the garden soil. *
Is there anything we can add to our garden soil to make it more
acidic where we are planting them to make them happy? *
Thanks for advice.

First you must determine your garden soil ph before you put your
azaleas in it. If you don't have a soil tester, you can determine the
soil ph by the plants growing there already, especially the weeds.
Cinquefoil, dandelions, buttercups, centaurea show signs of an acidic
soil. Shrubs like acer and amelanchier, rhodos and camelias, skimmias
and magnolia all grow on acid soil. You can change the soil ph by
adding lime or sulphur - but this is only temporary as it leaches out.
You also need a well drained soil. I grow blueberries in a raised bed
in pots of ericaeous compost sunk in the ground. I couldn't change the
ph of the whole bed. To encourage the acidity on that part of my bed,
I mulch every year with cuttings from our xmas tree up to spring. In
the autumn I apply a mix of leaf mould and sand.

If I had your address, I would send the clippings from the damned
Leylandii hedge (next door) that my neighbour managed to cover
my garden with, when he clipped it yesterday... Do you think that
would help?

Although ther hill above the village where I was brought up was
covered in a peat bog, and villagers were allowed to cut as much
peat as they wanted, for fuel, our garden had very alkaline soil.
My father created some raised beds, using slabs of peat as 'walls'.
It was a great success. The azaleas and ericas flourished.


The Key to success being the word raised
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

An easy method to determine whether such plants are likely to be successful where you are is to look around your neighbourhood and and see if they are commonly grown in your area. (Ignore magnolias, they are easier to grow on alkaline soils.) Though one needs to be aware of possible localised soil patches and boundaries - where I live the soil is quite different on the other side of the road. And of course the possibility of people having created special raised acid beds for them, or cleverly concealing that they are containerised.

In my humble experience, I don't think the presence of buttercups and dandelions is a decisive indicator of a non-alkaline soil. I weeded plenty of them out of my previous property which was on alkaline clay with flints. Though overall the weed population was rather different.

The other thing you need to be aware of is that some varieties of azalea need much more acid soil than others. If bilberries and heather aren't ubiquitous wild plants in your area, then you need to avoid the super-acid types.

A common reason for the failure of azaleas is that people buy the ones that are grown in greenhouses for the flower trade, and then think that they can grow them on in pots or their garden. Those ones are not easily grown outside carefully horticulturally controlled conditions.